Issue - meetings

To review and note the Committee Work Programme.

RESOLVED: that the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

a)    Agreed to hold an additional meeting on 21 November 2022 to discuss Special Educational Needs and Disability provision in West Northamptonshire.

b)    Requested to receive further information on planned corporate work on the operating arrangements between West Northamptonshire Council and Northamptonshire Partnership Homes, to inform consideration of possible scrutiny of how tenants report repairs.

c)    Agreed the following proposed items of business for the Committee meeting on 8 December 2022:

·         Housing Allocation Policy

·         Sports and leisure needs assessment

·         Draft report of the scrutiny review of child and adolescent mental health and the risk of self-harm

d)    Agreed that the Department for Education Regional Director be invited to attend the Committee meeting on 21 February 2023 to discuss academy school performance in West Northamptonshire.

The Chair introduced the report and gave further information about the potential topic for scrutiny arising from the NPH property tour referred to earlier in the meeting.  NPH tenants currently needed to contact the WNC Customer Contact Centre about property repairs rather than dealing with NPH directly.  This could cause issues if it meant that problems were not understood and prioritised for repair well enough.  The Chair had spoken to the portfolio holders responsible for housing and customer services about the potential for scrutiny of this area. 

The Assistant Director Housing and Communities advised that work would be done to refresh the governance arrangements for NPH and proposals resulting from this were likely to be presented to the Cabinet in the New Year.  The governance arrangements needed to reflect WNC’s and NPH’s respective roles as landlord and managing agent.  This was a complex area and it was important that any changes made should not have unintended consequences.  Committee members highlighted that it would be helpful to have further information on the forthcoming work so that this could be taken into account when considering the potential for scrutiny.    

The Committee went on to consider the overall work programme and prospective business for the Committee meeting on 8 December 2022.  The Committee was also advised of further communication with the office of the Department for Education Regional Director, which had resulted in a proposal that the Regional Director could attend the Committee meeting in February 2023 to discuss academy school performance in the authority.

RESOLVED: that the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

a) Agreed to hold an additional meeting on 21 November 2022 to discuss Special Educational Needs and Disability provision in West Northamptonshire.

b) Requested to receive further information on planned corporate work on the operating arrangements between West Northamptonshire Council and Northamptonshire Partnership Homes, to inform consideration of possible scrutiny of how tenants report repairs.

c) Agreed the following proposed items of business for the Committee meeting on 8 December 2022:

• Housing Allocation Policy

• Sports and leisure needs assessment

• Draft report of the scrutiny review of child and adolescent mental health and the risk of self-harm

d) Agreed that the Department for Education Regional Director be invited to attend the Committee meeting on 21 February 2023 to discuss academy school performance in West Northamptonshire

To review and note the Committee Work Programme.

To review and approve the Committee Work Programme.

RESOLVED: that the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

a)    Agreed to seek more regular information on performance against key performance indicators for the Council service areas within the Committee’s remit.

b)    Agreed to include in its work programme potential items of business on the Council’s Housing Solutions Transformation Plan and Housing Allocation Policy.

c)    Agreed the following items of business for the Committee meeting on 15 September 2022:

·         Adult Social worker recruitment and retention, including use of Workforce Recruitment and Retention funding

·         Special educational needs and disability support

·         Housing Solutions Transformation Plan

d)    Requested to receive further information about a potential item of business on Communities & Opportunities Directorate key contracts and delivery plans to enable the Committee to confirm at its next meeting whether to proceed with scrutiny.

e)    Agreed to hold a remote workshop-style meeting at the end of July 2022 on the Household Support Fund Scheme 2.

The Chair introduced the report and went on to advise that she was seeking to establish more regular liaison with each of the portfolio holders whose portfolios came under the wide-ranging remit of the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  The Chair planned to see each on a quarterly basis in future, which should help to inform the Committee’s work programme and help with pre-decision scrutiny of issues at an early stage.

The Committee considered the latest version of the work programme.  Committee members raised the need for the Committee to receive more regular information on performance against Key Performance Indicators for the service areas within its remit, although it was acknowledged that this might be done using relevant existing reports such as the quarterly performance report presented to the Cabinet.

The Committee considered additional potential areas for inclusion in the work programme that had been suggested by the Director of Communities and Opportunities.  Committee members highlighted that the challenge for scrutiny was to establish what was most useful to spend time on.  The Committee was subsequently advised of the opportunity for it to seek further information about potential topics to inform its decision.  The Chair also noted the potential to apply different approaches to different topics and highlighted the ‘one-day scrutiny enquiry’ model that had been discussed in the Overview and Scrutiny training session held the previous week.

The Committee was advised of and considered a proposal by the Director of Public Health that it hold a workshop-style meeting at the end of July 2022 to consider the delivery of the Household Support Fund Scheme 2.

RESOLVED: that the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

a)    Agreed to seek more regular information on performance against key performance indicators for the Council service areas within the Committee’s remit.

b)    Agreed to include in its work programme potential items of business on the Council’s Housing Solutions Transformation Plan and Housing Allocation Policy.

c)    Agreed the following items of business for the Committee meeting on 15 September 2022:

·         Adult Social worker recruitment and retention, including use of Workforce Recruitment and Retention funding

·         Special educational needs and disability support

·         Housing Solutions Transformation Plan

d)    Requested to receive further information about a potential item of business on Communities & Opportunities Directorate key contracts and delivery plans to enable the Committee to confirm at its next meeting whether to proceed with scrutiny.

e)    Agreed to hold a remote workshop-style meeting at the end of July 2022 on the Household Support Fund Scheme 2.